New Horizons

In my last post, I promised to bring you some news of what is happening in my life. David and I have decided to move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There are many reasons why we’re making this decision, which I will name later. The easy part was selling our house here in Broadway, Virginia. If…

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Release Date for Liberating Lomie

I am pleased to announce the release date for Liberating Lomie: Memoir of an Amish Childhood. June 22, 2022. Yay, Hurray! I plan to have books in hand to fulfill orders by the 22, and it will also be available through Amazon for retail sales, and through IngramSpark for wholesale to bookstores and libraries. You…

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Amish Man Sentenced to 38-76 Years in Prison for Child Sexual Abuse

On Friday David and I attended the sentencing of David Smucker in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, along with several other victim advocates. So often in court cases involving perpetrators among the Plain People, community members will show up in support of the perpetrator, leaving the victims feeling alone. We wanted to ensure this didn’t happen. This was…

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An Amish Homespun Art

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. My prayers are with those holiday travelers who may be experiencing inclement weather. David and I had a quiet and reflective Thanksgiving between the two of us. We look forward to Christmas when our sons will both be joining us for the holiday, along with Tim’s girlfriend,…

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Old Christmas

When I was growing up, we celebrated Christmas on December 24 and "Old Christmas" on January 6. I was taught that this was the "true Christmas" because this was the day Christmas fell on before the calendar was changed. I never really knew what that meant, "when the calendar was changed." I now know that…

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What to Do about the Seneca White Deer?

Once in a while our advanced technology helps us to discover something new in nature. That happened last week, when something unexpected came up in my Google alert set at "Amish." There was a story in the Inquistr by Patrick Frye about a white deer population at the army depot in Seneca, New York called…

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Pride or Humility?

Amish have received many exemptions for their religious beliefs over the years — from compulsory education, from child labor laws, from installing fire alarm in their homes, and from paying social security taxes and health insurance to name a few.  They have been granted these and other exemptions partly because their culture is perceived by…

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Reflections about Traditions: Both Amish and Swiss

When the Koch family was here, I asked Miriam about several traditions that I have often associated with being unique to the Amish, at least as compared to the mainstream culture in this country. I am discovering that some of these are traditions carried over from the old country. Here are some of the discoveries…

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Is Sam Mullet Outside both the Law and Age-Old Amish Traditions?

Sam Mullet, leader of the Amish in Bergholz, Ohio, is hoping to gain his freedom tomorrow, Monday, March 2, when a federal judge will re-sentence 16 defendants following an appeals court's decision to overturn their hate-crime convictions last August in the case that involved attacks on other Amish. The victims asked for help because their…

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